Author Archives: Emily

Feb 3 2013

Weird True Love: A Printable

Posted on by

Well, I was returning yesterday from the Target pharmacy where I had stopped to pick up Monkey’s acid reflux medicine.  Bless his little heart, he is the happiest of babies, but he does spit up, and sometimes it makes him quite uncomfortable.  As I was walking back to my car, I saw a quote written on the windshield of someone’s car.  It read:

“We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.”

Continue reading »

Feb 2 2013

Chicken Marsala

Posted on by

My wonderful mother-in-law got me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine for Christmas.  It’s a magazine that is entirely recipes, and a lot of them are easy ones– the kind that don’t take hours to make.  In my first copy, there was a recipe for Speedy Chicken Marsala, and I tried out the recipe.  I had to make a few tweaks, as I didn’t have the exact ingredients, but I was quite pleased with the outcome.  I thought I’d share the recipe here,  as I love finding yummy, quick dinners for my family.
Main Course Quick Dinners Chicken Marsala
Continue reading »

Jan 31 2013

Wordless Wednesday: 4-Months-Old

Posted on by

Monkey is 4 months old now.  It’s hard to believe, and I keep squeezing him extra tight and enjoying that delicious baby smell because I know that the newborn days are flying by.  Each passing day is bittersweet– it is wonderful to watch him grow and thrive, but I miss some of his itty bitty baby behaviors.  I took these pictures early this evening.

Monkey is such a happy baby.  He is a joy to be around:

A Tossed Salad Life: 4-month-old Smile

He is such a smiley boy– he loves to laugh.  Frog was much harder to make smile.

A Tossed Salad Life: 4-month-old smile

Jan 29 2013

Meal Planning Monday: January 28th… A Day Late!

Posted on by

Well, a day late and a meal short this week!  Actually, Monkey had his 4 month check up yesterday, so we ate out.  I was expecting a bit of crankiness.  I wonder if this is a self-fulfilling prophesy, as Monkey slept horribly last night.  In my groggy state, I forgot that he needed another dose of tylenol.  When MM woke up and asked if he could help with Monkey, and it dawned on me that Tylenol might help.  It did, but still was rather restless…. I digress.

We have continued to stick to our meal plan, and this has reduced dinner stress and eating out.  However, I’m still finding that we deviate either in the order of days, or take a meal out or add one in… does this happen to anyone else?mpm-1

Well, on to the meal plan, so MM knows what he’s eating tonight.  (He said he wasn’t sure last night!)
Continue reading »

Jan 28 2013

The World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on by

Frog had a school fundraiser on Friday night. He’s in fourth grade now, and in fifth grade there are a lot of special “graduation” activities that the parents need to pay for. In order to defray some of those costs, starting in fourth grade, the students and parents engage in fundraising. At numerous events over the next 6 months, we will be having bake sales.

Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookies
Continue reading »

Jan 28 2013

Improving my Blogging Photography

Posted on by

I’d like to think that I’m not a horrible photographer.  I’ve enjoyed the wonderful capabilities of my Nikon D70 since Frog was just over a year old.  That’s nearly a decade, and the camera has served me well.  I don’t think that MM and I would be together now if we didn’t both have D70s.  They are what caused us to click.

I’ve been trying to improve my photography of food and crafts.  It’s not quite the same type of photography as capturing a smiling kiddo or flowers blooming outside.  Scenic vista and cherubic children have been the primary subjects until I started this little blog.  It’s a new style of photography, and we live in a home with not a lot of natural light.  The family room is covered with knotty pine paneling, which darkens the room.  We have a yard surrounded by old oak, magnolia and hickory trees that provide lush shade, which can hinder good close-up shots.
Continue reading »

Jan 24 2013

Quick Household Fix: Painting the Plates Red

Posted on by

MM and I were working on a couple of projects this past weekend.  We’re actually still working on them, and they are the subject of other posts.  However, we had several cans of spray paint sitting out in the kitchen.  I have gotten rather enamored of the Rust-Oleum Gloss Regal Red, and was admiring the red coat hooks I painted earlier this year.   Directly above the hooks is a light switch, and I always grimace when I see it.  It seems dingy, and there is just so much knotty pine in our knotty pine family room and kitchen.  See what I mean:

Ligh Switch Cover Original

Continue reading »

Jan 22 2013

The Wreath that Started It All…

Posted on by

About a year and a half ago,  I remember sitting at work and having my coworkers talk about Pinterest, and how addicting it was.  One coworker said that her 17-year-old daughter was using Pinterest to plan her wedding and decorate a nursery.  Initially I was a bit confused, as her daughter wasn’t seriously involved with anyone, nor was she pregnant.  Then I got an invite, and I was hooked.  I learned that I didn’t have to use it to plan weddings or decorate my nursery… I could pin recipes and crafts.  I hadn’t been using my craft supplies in several years, and they had been boxed up and stored away.  Pinterest inspired me to get out my cardstock and heatgun and ink pads and yarn and all the other craft supplies gathering dust in my house.
Continue reading »